4 ΚΑΤΑΣΤΡΟΦΗ ΤΟΥ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΚΟΥ ΑΡΧΕΙΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΚΟΛΩΝΙΑΣ Το απόγευµα της Τρίτης 3 Μαρτίου 2009 ένα µεγάλο τµήµα του κτίριου του Ιστορικού Αρχείου της Κολωνίας και γειτονικά σε αυτό κτίρια κατέρρευσαν, προκαλώντας τον θάνατο δύο ατόµων. Η καταστροφή αποδίδεται σε αστοχία της αντιστήριξης του προσωρινού ορύγµατος για την κατασκευή τµήµατος του ΜΕΤΡΟ της πόλης. Από τα παρατιθέµενα στοιχεία προκύπτει ότι πρέπει να υ- πήρχαν ενδείξεις, πριν από την αστοχία, για τα προβλήµατα που είχε ήδη δηµιουργήσει η κατασκευή του ΜΕΤΡΟ, χωρίς όµως να αξιολογηθούν και να ληφθούν κάποια πρόσθετα µέτρα. Επίσης πρέπει να σηµειωθή ότι σε οποιοδήποτε µέρος του κόσµου, οσοδήποτε προηγµένη γνώση και τεχνολογία διαθέτει, οι αστοχίες κατά την διάρκεια κατασκευής υπογείων έργων δεν είναι κάτι το ασύνηθες. Είναι τέτοια η φύση των γεωτεχνικών προβληµάτων και τόσες οι αβεβαιότητες σχετικά µε την συµπεριφορά του εδάφους, που καθιστούν εξαιρετικά δύσκολη την πρόβλεψη της συµπεριφοράς του. Early on Sunday morning, emergency workers in Cologne recovered the body of one of the two men missing following the dramatic collapse of the city's historical archive on March 3. He was a 17-year-old baker's apprentice who is believed to have been sleeping in one of the apartments next to the archive that were also destroyed in the disaster. On Monday, firefighters and emergency workers continued the search for a second man believed perished. Last Tuesday afternoon, the Cologne Historical Archive, one of Europe's most important collections of records dating as far back as 922, suddenly disappeared into a cloud of dust and a pile of rubble. After the sounds of buckling began, archive staff and visitors had enough time to escape the building, but its vast historical holdings didn't prove as fortunate. Increasingly, evidence is suggesting the catastrophe was caused by construction of an underground railway line beneath a densely populated street in Germany's fourthlargest city. The Cologne-based Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper and SPIEGEL both reported over the weekend that city officials may not have taken earlier expert reports warning of potential problems seriously enough. Παραθέτουµε στη συνέχεια δηµοσιογραφικές ανταποκρίσεις και φωτογραφίες από την αστοχία (οι φωτογραφίες δεν α- ντιστοιχούν στα γειτονικά τους κείµενα). COLOGNE ARCHIVE CATASTROPHE Were Subway Builders Cautious Enough? By SPIEGEL Staff Many in Germany's fourth biggest city are asking if the collapse of one of Europe's most important historical archives was caused by the construction of an underground railway line. One report suggests work on the line wasn't done as carefully as it should have been. Quoting an unnamed source close to the investigation into the accident, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported Monday that the tragedy was likely caused by ground water seepage at the construction site. "Everything points to a problem with the ground water," the source told the paper. City prosecutors have now appointed several experts to determine exactly what happened at the underground railway construction site. They are trying to determine whether water seeped in through the more than one-meter thick concrete side wall or came up through the floor, which hadn't been finished. They are also looking into whether the problems might be related to rising levels of the Rhine River, which is located very close to the archive. Last week's disaster has left residents in the city, which recently celebrated its world-famous Carnival season, shaken and angry. A nearby school remains evacuated and apartments next to the archive were also sucked into the 28-meter sinkhole. Many locals are afraid of the next accident. "I have lost trust," said retiree Eva Böll. After all, engineers, politicians and managers at KVB had kept on making assurances that the construction of the city's north-south underground railway line was absolutely safe. They continued to make that claim even as an increasing number of residents whose homes were located above the 4 kilometer-long tunnel reported cracks and subsidence in their homes, and costs soared from a planned 630 million to close to 1 billion. Doubts began to surface right at the beginning over whether the Cologne underground line was being constructed using the utmost professional standards. ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 4

5 In autumn 2004, experts commissioned by the company that insures KVB began to investigate the nearby St. Johann Baptist Church, whose tower (just a few hundred meters down the street from the archive), was suddenly listing like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The listing church steeple was the first sign in the city that construction of the underground line might be creating serious problems for the Severin neighborhood. So far, city officials, KVB and companies involved in the construction are deflecting responsibility or blame for the deadly accident that also saw the loss of much of the city's historical legacy. Among those backpeddling was Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma, who right after the accident decried the tunneling of an underground train line in such a densly populated area to be "almost irresponsible," only to back away from his statement later under pressure from public transport officials. Ground anchor failure could have triggered progressive collapse of diaphragm wall which swallowed up the Cologne city archive building say geotechnical engineers Weak ground and a high water table could have contributed to the archive building collapse in Cologne last week. Engineers believe it is possible that ground anchor failure could have led to the collapse of one of the diaphragm walls supporting the area in front of the archive building. The 37m deep diaphragm wall supporting the excavation in the collapse area had been bolstered by ground anchors. Contractors were working on the base slab between the diaphragm walls at the time of the collapse. One British geotechnical engineer said that if an anchor was to hit a pocket of weaker than expected gravels, it could have led to a systematic failure of the wall. I expect that they [investigators] would be looking at the homogeneity of the soil, the nature of the anchors and the support system and the sequence with which it was installed, said Card Geotechnics director Nick Langdon. It might be difficult to assess the true strength of the gravels. If there s a variation, when one anchor goes, a higher load would be put on another, leading to progressive failure. The fluvial ground conditions in Cologne are highly variable, making it difficult to assess accurately the strength of the soil. The high water table would have complicated matters further. A spokesman for the mayor did concede last week, however, that spot tests of the soil around the city archive had only been conducted before the city made the tender offer and prior to the begin of construction on the underground line. There were no subsequent soil tests once construction work had started. The city followed the standard procedure. But given the nature of Cologne's soil -- a mixture of gravel and sand -- and its abundant ground water, many are now asking if standard procedures had been enough. Workers at Bilfinger Berger, the German company leading construction of this part of the underground line, have said internally that planners may have forgotten to take account of the particular impact that the weight of the books and the water were having on this problematic soil. It's also possible that city administrators failed to take a recent report on structural damage at the city archive as seriously as it should have. A worker at an engineering firm in the nearby city of Leverkusen inspected eight conspicuous areas within the building: an expansion joint in the concrete ceiling, in which a crack the size of a hand had formed, and cracks in the flooring in the basement boiler room. In a "static respect, harmless," the expert wrote. In order to "prevent further damage to the structure," though, he advised that other experts be brought in. Reported by Matthias Bartsch, Andrea Brandt, Guido Kleinhubbert and Mathias Schreiber. New Civil Engineer Ground anchors could hold key to Cologne metro collapse 12 March By Jessica Rowson University of Cologne Institute for Geology and Mineralogy professor Reiner Kleinschrodt said the collapsed building was on the innermost fluvial terrace of the River Rhine. This comprises river gravels. The complete newly constructed subway is situated within these river sediments or even within anthropogenic constructions of the Roman and Medieval periods, said Kleinschrodt. The sediments are rich in groundwater, which was a problem, and tremendous amounts of water had to be pumped out of the construction area. River sediments typically create highly variable ground conditions. Such ground is highly variable and contains pockets of coarse and fine material, old river courses and such like, said HPR director Scott Steedman. It s likely that they [construction workers] hit some void or local pocket of very loose material and this provoked a collapse, possibly a sinkhole type of feature outside the excavation. The variability of the soil would have meant that the construction works required close monitoring In those kinds of ground conditions with that kind of water, nothing is standard, said Imperial College London emeritus professor and senior research investigator Professor John Burland. Fluvial material may have layers of compressible material and is likely to be highly variable. It would be a very challenging set of conditions in which to excavate. What might work brilliantly in one area might not in another. The City of Cologne legal department is currently investigating what initiated last week s collapse. Cologne mayor Fritz Schamma confirmed last week that as well as looking at the construction work it would examine local geology. Cologne transit authority Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe is carrying out its own investigation. ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 5

6 A big hole has opened up which means the wall has been pushed in bodily, said Geotechnical Consulting Group director Hugh St John. It implies the anchors have failed. However, we don t know the sequence [of the collapse] - whether there was a failure at the toe, which then progressively led to the anchors failing or whether the anchors failed first. Diaphragm walls probed after Cologne collapse 12 March By Jessica Rowson Investigations into the fatal collapse of the six storey city archive building in Cologne are focusing on neighbouring underground excavations for a new light railway. It has emerged that diaphragm walls supporting the investigation had been in place for two years before excavation of the ground between them began late last year. The base slab for the structure had not been cast at the time of the collapse. The archive building collapsed on 3 March along with residential properties on either side (News last week). One person was killed and another was still missing as NCE went to press on Tuesday. Cologne police said the collapse was caused by the ground under the building slipping into the underground excavation. Earth under the archive building slid into the tunnel of the subway, causing the building to collapse, said a city of Cologne spokesman. The whole building has collapsed, everything has gone including the two buildings to the left and right of it. The north to south light rail line known as Nord-Sud Stadtbahn Köln run at 28m depths (to the base of the bored tunnels). These give way to a cut and cover crossover section in front of the archive building. The crossover section is built between two 37m deep diaphragm walls using a bottom up technique. The diaphragm walls were constructed first before the ground between them was excavated. Ground anchors were inserted to support the diaphragm walls. The reinforced concrete base slab was then to be cast immediately below the base of the tunnels. The diaphragm walls for the underground structure had been constructed in 2005, but excavation work between them did not start until the end of In some areas, they were still excavating [at the time of the collapse] and in some areas they had reached bottom and were laying reinforcement, said a city transport authority Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe (KBV) spokesman. The 1m thick diaphragm walls for the cut and cover crossover structure were supported by ground anchors in predominantly river gravels. The groundwater level in Cologne is relatively high at about 12m below the surface and the site of the collapse was around 300m from the River Rhine. Work on this section of the project was being carried out by a joint venture comprising Bilfinger Berger, Weiss & Freytag and Züblin. It refused to comment. Cracks had been noticed in the archive building since 2007 but the structure had been declared safe by structural engineers. [The cracks] were supervised by specialists who said that there was no problem for stability. There was a second examination in 2008 by another specialist who also said there was no danger, said the city spokesman. constructioneurope Mysterious collapse of Cologne's archive building Written by Becca Wilkins - 16 Mar 2009 The underground excavations for the new section of Cologne's light railway have come under the spotlight following the collapse of the city's archive building, which killed two people earlier this month. It is thought the building had not been underpinned or compensation grouted, despite its proximity to work being carried out for the 3,9 km north-south light railway tunnel. Local news reports about what caused the collapse vary but there are concerns over the diaphragm walls for the underground structure, which had been in place for two years before excavation of the ground between them began late last year. It is thought the contactor for this section of the project - a joint venture between Bilfinger Berger, Weiss & Freytag and Züblin- was working on the base slab between the diaphragm walls at the time of the collapse. The JV has so far declined to comment. The diaphragm walls were supported by ground anchors in predominantly river gravels. Local news reports state that failure of the anchors could have led to the collapse of one of the diaphragm walls supporting the area in front of the archive building. Residential properties also collapsed on either side of the 1971-built six-storey archive structure. According to reports staff first noticed cracks in the archive's cellar early last year but the building was deemed safe. Cologne police stated the collapse was caused by the ground under the building slipping into an underground excavation. However, authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse. Modernisation of Cologne's tram network has been ongoing, having first begun in City tram routes and interurban routes were amalgamated in 1968 and the 15-route tram system upgraded. Most subways in the city centre were constructed up until 1974 and the tunnel networks gradually expanded in the following decades. The north-south tunnel, which will run between Breslauer Platz/Hauptbahnhof to Bonntor via Heumarkt, Severinstraße and Chlodwigplatz, is set for completion in Some of Germany's most valuable documents may have been destroyed in the collapse of the archive building including manuscripts and essays written by Karl Marx, letters written by philosopher Hegel and lyrics and notes written by composer Jacques Offenbach. The earliest document stored in the building dated back to AD.922. New Civil Engineer Cologne: groundwater extraction method probed 19 March 2009 By Jessica Rowson ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 6

7 Investigations into the collapse earlier this month of the six storey archive building in Cologne this week focused on groundwater extraction. It has emerged that contractors exceeded authorised dewatering limits while excavating a section of crossover tunnel for the city s subway. Cologne City Authority investigators said that groundwater pumping logbooks showed that main contractor Bilfinger Berger/Weiss & Freytag/Züblin joint venture, had built 15 extraction wells when it only had permission to build four. could have combined to cause soil erosion and the formation of sink holes behind the diaphragm wall. If they were over-pumping the water they could be pumping fines probably silt and fine sands with the water and basically causing internal erosion in the material behind the wall, said Card Geotechnics director Nick Langdon. You could wash out the fine gravel and silt in patches to leave clays and gravels [if present] that are not as easily transported without the matrix that held them together. That in itself would not directly cause the collapse but if this internal erosion happened near an anchor then the anchor would lose strength and unzip, closely followed by a few more and then of course the wall follows. The key will be the physical interrelationship of the dewatering points and the anchors if this is indeed the mechanism. A KVB spokesman said there were measuring devices on the diaphragm walls which did not show anything unusual immediately before the accident. Groundwater experts said the removal of fines should have been monitored and rectified. The flow of water carrying fines into wells can accumulate to the point of mining but that would be noticed early on, said WJ Groundwater chairman professor Jim White. The records also showed that from December last year this had nearly doubled the amount it was allowed to pump from 450m3/hour to 750m3/h. A Bilfinger Berger spokesman said that the JV could not discuss the scheme s construction methods. The archive building collapsed on 3 March. Two people died and Cologne police said the collapse was caused by the ground under the building slipping into the excavation. The joint venture was building the cut and cover crossover to allow light rail trains to switch tracks on the new Nord- Sud Stadtbahn Köln. The cavern site is in front of the building which collapsed and is just 300m from the river Rhine. A Cologne Transit Authority (KVB) spokesman said work on the 28m deep excavation was at full depth or nearing full depth when the building collapsed. The 1m thick diaphragm walls supporting the excavation were supported by ground anchors in predominantly river gravel. You would monitor for fines and if they [excessive amounts in groundwater extractions] were found to be a problem, the well would be turned off. [Overpumping] would be no reason to cause a catastrophic collapse, it would be more likely to be a dewatering failure. Experts also suggested that the increase in groundwater flow and corresponding pumping could have increased the hydraulic gradient under the excavation to the point where the ground liquefied, losing the passive resistance of the toe of the retaining wall. The hydraulic gradient [pressure loss/distance] would be at its steepest due to the confined space. If the critical hydraulic gradient or velocity is reached, the soil fluidises. The diaphragm walls would have a great deal of restraint from passive resistance of the toe. If it was taken away, the wall would fail, said independent consultant Andrew Hawkes/ Cologne mayor Fritz Schamma has ordered KVB and the environment department to give a full explanation of all aspects of the dewatering this week. Groundwater level in Cologne is about 12m below the surface. Geotechnical experts said if the ground was more porous than initially thought, the volume of groundwater that had to be removed could have been greater than expected. [The amount of overpumping] means that there was far more water coming into the excavation than they expected and they were probably struggling to control it, said HPR director Scott Steedman. There could have been underground channels or voids that were producing the flow. The transportation of fine material out of the soil matrix during pumping along with the high groundwater velocities ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 7

8 Ο ΣΕΙΣΜΟΣ ΤΗΣ 6 ης ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΥ 2009 ΣΤΗΝ L AQUILA which killed more than 25 people and was the deadliest in 20 years. Earthquakes mark the history of L'Aquila, a city built on the bed of an ancient lake, providing a soil structure that amplifies seismic waves. The city was struck by earthquakes in 1315, 1349, 1452, 1501, 1646, 1703, and The earthquake of February 1703, which caused devastation across much of central Italy, largely destroyed the city and killed around 5,000 people. Όπως έχει ήδη ανακοινωθή, την ευτέρα 16 Μαϊου 2009 το µέλος της ΕΕΕΕΓΜ ρ. Γιώργος Μυλωνάκης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής της Πολυτεχνικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστηµίου Πατρών, θα παρουσιάση λεπτοµερώς τις παρατηρήσεις και τα συµπεράσµατα από την επίσκεψή του, µαζί µε τον Καθηγητή Γεώργιο Αθανασόπουλο, ως µέλη της διεθνούς αναγνωριστικής αποστολής του GEER, στην L Aquila, αµέσως µετά τον καταστροφικό σεισµό της 6 ης Απριλίου Παραθέτουµε στη συνέχεια, για ενηµέρωση των µελών µας που αδυνατούν να παρακολουθήσουν την διάλεξη, µια «δη- µοσιογραφική» παρουσίαση των αιτίων και των αποτελεσµάτων του σεισµού, όπως αυτή παρατίθεται στην Wikipedia. Σηµειώνουµε ότι το υλικό της διάλεξης του Καθηγητού Γιώργου Μυλωνάκη θα «αναρτηθή» στην ιστοσελίδα της ΕΕΕΕΓΜ. Όπως θα δείτε, ο «ιός» της πρόγνωσης του σεισµού χτύπησε και την Ιταλία, όπου ο υπεύθυνος πολιτικής προστασίας υ- ποχρέωσε έναν από τους «προγνώστες» να αποσύρη από το διαδίκτυο τα στοιχεία της πρόγνωσής του, ενώ ο ίδιος «προγνώστης» εκλήθη στην αστυνοµία, όπου του έγιναν συστάσεις για να µην σπέρνη τον πανικό µεταξύ των πολιτών L'Aquila earthquake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake was an earthquake of 6.3 moment magnitude that occurred in the central Italian region of Abruzzo on 6 April 2009, following a series of about a hundred minor tremors since January 2009, including a 4.0-magnitude one on 30 March. The majority of the damage occurred in the medieval city of L'Aquila (capital city of the Abruzzo region) and the surrounding villages. As of 12 April at CEST, at least 294 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. Cause This earthquake was caused by movement on a NW-SE trending normal fault according to moment tensor solutions. Although Italy lies in a tectonically complex region, the central part of the Appenines has been characterised by extensional tectonics since the Pliocene epoch (i.e. about the last 5 million years), with most of the active faults being normal in type and NW-SE trending. The extension is due to the back-arc basin in the Tyrrhenian Sea opening faster than the African Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. The earthquake occurred at 01:32 GMT (03:32 CEST local time) at the relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and with an epicentre at N, E or approximately 90 kilometres (60 mi) north-east of Rome, at the village of Paganica near to the city of L'Aquila. The earthquake was reported to measure 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale. Historical context Italy frequently experiences earthquakes but it is uncommon for them to be very deadly. The last major earthquake was the 5.9 magnitude 2002 Molise earthquake (Preliminary report on the L Aquila M w =6.2 (M L =5.8) earthquake (6 th of April 2009), Abruzzo, central Apennines, Italy I. Papanikolaou, E. Lekkas and I. Fountoulis) ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 8

9 Effects The earthquake caused damage to between 3,000 and 11,000 buildings in the medieval city of L'Aquila. Several buildings also collapsed. At least 295 people have been killed by the earthquake, including two Czechs, five Romanian citizens, two Palestinians, one Greek citizen, one French citizen, one Ukrainian citizen and one Israeli citizen, and around 1,000 people were injured. Ten people remain missing and around 28,000 people have been made homeless. 20 of the victims were children. All but one of the victims have been identified. damaged. Fatalities were reported in Poggio Picenze, Tornimparte, Fossa, Totani and San Pio delle Camere. An Italian military carabinieri walks on debris past destroyed buildings after an earthquake, in downtown Aquila An aerial view of the destruction in the city of L'Aquila The main earthquake was preceded by two smaller earthquakes the previous day. The earthquake was felt as far away as Rome (92 kilometres (57 mi) away), in other parts of Lazio, as well as Marche, Molise, Umbria and Campania. Schools remained closed in the Abruzzo region. Most of the inhabitants of L'Aquila abandoned their homes and the city itself; in the city centre of L'Aquila, and the nearby village of Paganica which was also badly damaged, many streets were impassable due to fallen masonry. The hospital at L'Aquila, where many of the victims were brought, suffered damage in the 4.8 aftershock which followed the main earthquake an hour later. Powerful aftershocks, some only slightly weaker than the main shock, were felt throughout the following 2 days. Many of L'Aquila's medieval buildings have been damaged. The apse of the Basilica of Saint Bernardino of Siena, L'Aquila's largest Renaissance church was seriously damaged, and its campanile has collapsed. Almost the whole dome of the 18th-century church of Anime Sante in Piazza Duomo has fallen down. The 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio collapsed from the transept to the back of the church and Porta Napoli, the oldest gate to the city, was destroyed in the quake. The third floor of Forte Spagnolo, the 16th-century castle housing the National Museum of Abruzzo, has collapsed, as has the cupola of the 18th-century Baroque church of St Augustine, damaging L'Aquila's state archives. This church was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1703 earthquake. The Cathedral of L'Aquila has lost part of its transept and maybe more with the effects of the aftershocks. Slight damage was also reported to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, but other Roman monuments such as the Colosseum and Roman Forum were unharmed. The Duomo Cathedral of San Massimo is seen damaged in the town center of L'Aquila Villages in the valley along Strada Statale 17 just outside l'aquila suffered the greatest damage while medieval mountain hill towns lying high above the valley suffered little damage. Onna was reported to be mostly leveled with 38 deaths among the 350 residents. The villages of Villa Sant'Angelo and San Pio delle Camere were badly The damaged Santa Maria Church in the town of Paganica While most of l'aquila's medieval structures suffered damage, many of its modern buildings suffered the greatest damage, for instance, a dormitory at the university of l'aquila collapsed. Even some buildings that were believed to be "earthquake-proof" were damaged. L Aquila Hospital's ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 9

10 new wing, which opened in 2000 and was thought capable of resisting almost any earthquake suffered extensive damage and had to be closed. 7 April at 19:47 CEST local time, measured magnitude 5.3 M L and caused further damage. According to the Italian National Geophysics Institute director Boschi, the aftershock epicentres have migrated south-east, thus lessening the risk of other major shocks that are near to populated areas. Aftershocks cause safety issues for rescue crews with cranes and backhoes who are searching for injured people among precarious loose bricks and broken timbers of structures in the historic center of L'Aquila, a medieval city. Even a small aftershock can trigger the collapse of seriously damaged walls or parapets. Aftershocks also cause sustained psychological trauma to small children and elderly who have already been traumatized by the main earthquake of 6 April The Italian government is aware of this psychological trauma situation, and therefore has temporarily relocated thousands of citizens away from the epicentral area. A view of Santa Maria Paganica church, severely damaged after the earthquake Homeless camps Around 24,138 people made homeless by the earthquake have found accommodation in tented camps and a further 10,000 are housed in hotels on the coast. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi caused a controversy when he said, in an interview to the German station n-tv, that the homeless victims should consider themselves to be on a "camping weekend" - "They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food... Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. But they should see it like a weekend of camping." To clarify his thought, he also told the people in a homeless camp: "Head to the beach. It s Easter. Take a break. We re paying for it, you ll be well looked after." The billionaire prime minister offered his own houses to some of the survivors. An aerial view of Santa Maria Paganica church in L'Aquila Within two weeks, it is expected that both the rate and magnitude of aftershocks will decay. During April and May 2009, seismologists will study the full extent of the ovalshaped fault-rupture surface, as illuminated by the sequence of aftershocks, and then make a final determination of the "official" moment magnitude. As a result of aftershocks, the dome of the Anime Sante Basilica in L'Aquila, already heavily damaged by the main shock, has almost entirely collapsed. Further buildings have collapsed in L'Aquila and in neighbouring boroughs. The aftershock was so strong as to be felt in Rome, where it caused an elderly man to die of cardiac arrest. Prior warning controversy Destroyed houses in the village of Onna are seen in this aerial view near L'Aquila Building standards Poor building standards or construction materials seem to have further contributed to the large number of victims. According to firefighters and other rescuers, some concrete elements of the fallen buildings "seemed to have been made poorly, possibly with sand". An official at Italy's Civil Protection agency, Franco Barberi, said that "in California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person." According to Italian media, L'Aquila's chief prosecutor has opened a probe into possible criminal blame for the collapses. Aftershocks The epicentral region saw dozens of significant aftershocks following the main earthquake. The strongest, which hit on Italian laboratory technician Giampaolo Giuliani predicted a major earthquake on Italian television a month before, after measuring increased levels of radon emitted from the ground. He was accused of being alarmist by Director of the Civil Defence Guido Bertolaso, and forced to remove his findings from the Internet (old data and descriptions are still on line). He was also reported to police a week before the main quake for "causing fear" among the local population when he predicted an earthquake was imminent in Sulmona, about 50 km (31 mi) from L'Aquila, on 30 March where a 4 quake happened (later Sulmona only suffered minor damages by the 6 April earthquake.) Enzo Boschi, the head of the Italian National Geophysics Institute declared: "Every time there is an earthquake there are people who claim to have predicted it. As far as I know nobody predicted this earthquake with precision. It is not possible to predict earthquakes." Predicting earthquakes based on radon emissions has been studied by scientists since the 1970s, but enthusiasm for it has faded due to inconsistent results. ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 10

11 ΑΝΑΣΚΟΠΗΣΗ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΤΩΝ ΓΕΩΤΕΧΝΙΚΟΥ ΕΝ ΙΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΟΣ Since 2001: Chair of Foundation Engineering, Soil Mechanics, Rock Mechanics and Tunneling at the Technische Universität München. Board member of the German Society für Geotechnics (DGGT). Member of the National Committee to develop DIN 1054 (mirror group to EC 7) and to introduce EN in Germany. Member of SC 7 as German delegate ιάλεξη Norbert Vogt Την ευτέρα, 16 Μαρτίου 2009, πραγµατοποιήθηκε στην Αίθουσα Εκδηλώσεων της Σχολής Πολιτικών Μηχανικών ΕΜΠ στην Πολυτεχνειούπολη Ζωγράφου η έβδοµη εκδήλωση του εφετεινού κύκλου των δραστηριοτήτων της ΕΕΕΕΓΜ µε την διάλεξη του Dr. Noerbert Vogt «The Implementation of EC7 on German DIN Standards». Περίληψη ιάλεξης DIN 1054 is the traditional geotechnical code in Germany. Its version from 1976 was the basis for geotechnical design for three decades and all active German Civil Engineers were used to apply it. With the partial safety concept and the harmonized European codes the German Geotechnical Engineers did not want to come to essential changes of safety levels and physical dimensions of foundation constructions which were well validated with thousands of foundation constructions. Thus the German mirror group to EC 7 worked intensively parallel during the final development of EN The implementation of design approach DA 2 with its special forming of DA 2* into EC 7 is one of the results of the activities of the German mirror group. EN in its present version was published in A new DIN 1054 which already implemented the partial safety concept was published 2003 and updated 2005 to its actual version. It is meanwhile introduced as mandatory geotechnical code in all federal states in Germany. However, it contains many regulations which are also included in EN and as in the near future national concurrent regulations to EN are not possible a committee of German geotechnical engineers developed a new national code system. It is strongly based on EC 7-1 and a related national annex. The annex gives reference to a new German Standard DIN 1054 (its first version called DIN has just been published to be discussed by the general public) which contains complementary rules. They give more precisely details which are asteemed to be important to maintain traditional principles of German geotechnical design practice within the new partial safety concept. The presentation will present this new German code system which is intended be published as a combined code handbook in its general characteristics and in some details such as Geotechnical Categories, Design Situations, Choice of Design Approaches, Application of Combination Rules, Allowable Bearing Pressures and Consideration of Overturning. Βιογραφικά Στοιχεία : Consultant Engineer: Partner and manager of Smoltczyk & Partner GmbH, Stuttgart. ιάλεξη Sarda Sarma Την Τετάρτη, 1 Απριλίου 2009, πραγµατοποιήθηκε στην Αίθουσα Εκδηλώσεων της Σχολής Πολιτικών Μηχανικών ΕΜΠ στην Πολυτεχνειούπολη Ζωγράφου η όγδοη εκδήλωση του εφετεινού κύκλου των δραστηριοτήτων της ΕΕΕΕΓΜ µε την διάλεξη του Dr. Sarada Sarma «Seismic Slope Safely Assessment». Περίληψη ιάλεξης The presentation reflected on several aspects of seismic slope safety analysis. The response analysis of slopes is quite complicated and there is no known simplified analysis of the problem. Even for finite element methods, it is complicated because of the boundary conditions. Wave form analysis gives some idea of the complications involved. The presentation included a discussion on the limit equilibrium technique of determining the critical acceleration, which included the problem of the infinite solutions, the need for the acceptability criterion and the new method of using the acceptability criterion as a prerequisite for analysis in determining the critical surface. The verification of the solutions by the new method with the finite element method waw discussed. Seismic safety analysis is not complete without the sliding block technique of displacements analysis. Both the simple single sliding block and the multi-block sliding were discussed. Finally, the effect of vertical acceleration on the safety was presented. Βιογραφικά Στοιχεία Since 2004, he is Emeritus Reader in Engineering Seismology and Senior Research Fellow in the Civil Engineering Department in Imperial College London. After graduation in 1960 with First Class (honours) from Institute of Technology and working as an engineer in the construction of an earth dam in Assam, India, he started research under Professor Nick Ambraseys at Imperial College in 1964 in the field of Engineering Seismology, and particularly on the seismic design of earth dams and slopes. He obtained the degree of PhD in Since then he ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 11

13 ΤΙΜΗΤΙΚΕΣ ΙΑΚΡΙΣΕΙΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΓΕΩΤΕΧΝΙΚΩΝ - ΝΙΚΟΣ ΑΜΒΡΑΖΗΣ be hosted by the Universities, Institutes etc. in Europe and can be broadcasted online. 3. Το 2008, µαζί µε τους Robert D. Hanson και Joseph P. Nicoletti Earthquake Engineering Research Institute του Πανεπιστηµίου του Berkeley, California, USA. Ο Νίκος Αµβράζης βραβεύτηκε για την distinguished career in the field of engineering seismology. Ο ρ. Νίκος Αµβράζης, Ακαδηµαϊκός, Οµότιµος Καθηγητής του Imperial College και ιδρυτής και επί σειρά ετών διευθυντής του Τµήµατος Τεχνικής Σεισµολογίας τιµήθηκε τα τελευταία χρόνια µε µια σειρά διακρίσεων για την µακρόχρονη ακαδηµαϊκή και ερευνητική προσφορά του: 1. Το 2006 τιµήθηκε µε το Medal of the Seismological Society of America for Outstanding Contributions in Seismology and Earthquake Engineering. 2. Το 2007 θεσπίστηκε από την European Association for Eathquake Engineering η Nicholas N. Ambraseys Lecture, η οποία θα δίνεται κάθε τέσσερα χρόνια κατά την διάρκεια του European Conference on Eathquake Engineering MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Agenda: 1. Establishment of EAEE Lectureship to be presented in each ECEE 2. Guidelines for European Conferences on Earthquake Engineering 3. Miscellaneous Item 6: Secretary General proposed the establishment of EAEE Lecture to honour Prof. Nicholas N. Ambraseys of Imperial College to be presented in the future in every European Conference on Earthquake Engineering. The two main motivations for such a lecture was; (1) To award European leading researchers, to promote EAEE and (2) To honour Prof. Nicholas Ambraseys who has been a pioneer on Earthquake Engineering in Europe. Establishment of the EAEE Lecture with a full paper from the Lecturer was approved by Executive Committee Members. Carlos Oliveira stated that four years period for the Lecture may be quite long and his preference was this Lecture to be given in every two years. This suggestion was also accepted such that after the first Lecture to be held in 14th ECEE, Skopje; the Prof. Nicholas Ambraseys Lecture can ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 13

16 ΠΡΟΣΕΧΕΙΣ ΓΕΩΤΕΧΝΙΚΕΣ ΕΚ ΗΛΩΣΕΙΣ Για τις παλαιότερες καταχωρήσεις περισσότερες πληροφορίες µπορούν να αναζητηθούν στα προηγούµενα τεύχη του «περιοδικού» και στις παρατιθέµενες ιστοσελίδες. ERES Seventh International Conference on Earthquake Resistant Engineering Structures, May 2009, Cyprus, www2.wessex.ac.uk/09-conferences/eres-2009.html ISSMGE TC 18 International Conference on Deep Foundations - CPRF and Energy Piles, 15 May 2009, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Géotechnique Symposium in Print Thermal Behaviour of the Ground Characterisation, Modelling and Application, Monday 18 May 2009, Institution of Civil Engineers, London, UK, events.ice.org.uk/gsip SINOROCK2009 International Symposium on Rock Mechanics Rock Characterization, Modelling and Engineering Design Methods, May 2009, Hong Kong, SINOROCK2009 Extra-terrestrial rock mechanics. "Safe Tunnelling for the City and Environment" ITA-AITES World Tunnel Congress 2009 and the 35 th ITA-AITES General Assembly, Budapest Congress and Word Trade Center, Budapest, Hungary, May Géotechnique SYMPOSIUM IN PRINT 2009, May 2009, www. geotechnique-ice.com 3rd International Conference on New Development in Rock Mechanics and Engineering & Sanya Forum for the Plan of City and City Construction (NDRM'2009), May 2009, Sanya, Hainan Island, China, International Symposium on Prediction and Simulation Methods for Geohazard Mitigation IS-Kyoto, May 2009, Kyoto, Japan, nakisuna2.kuciv.kyoto-u.ac.jp/tc34/iskyoto The final projected doubling in Earth's population in the next half century requires a projected additional 1 billion housing units, more dwellings constructed in a single generation than at any time in Earth's history. Earth's tenfold increase in population has occurred during a time that is short compared to the return time of damaging earthquakes. In the next century, therefore, earthquakes that had little impact on villages and towns will be shaking supercities housing upwards of 12 million people. In the past, catastrophic earthquakes have killed more than 10% of the epicentral population, hence, an epicentral hit on one of our new urban agglomerations has the potential to cause 1 million fatalities. Earthquake resistant construction often takes a backseat to perceived more pressing needs in the developing nations. Never has a generation of earthquake engineers been faced with such a grave responsibility to exercise their skills, both political and technical, as now. Speaker: Professor Roger Bilham, Professor of Geology, University of Colorado Roger Bilham was awarded degrees in Physics (1966) and Geology (1967) at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and in 1971 a PhD in Geophysics from Cambridge University. From , following a post-doctoral appointment in Cambridge, he joined the earthquake deformation monitoring program at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, ultimately as a Doherty Fellow. In 1986 he was appointed a Professor of Geology at the University of Colorado, where he co-founded UNAVCO, the US consortium to apply GPS techniques to tectonic studies. His more than 180 articles of the past three decades describe new instruments for tilt and creep monitoring, historical archive studies of pre-instrumental earthquakes, and details of ongoing plate boundary deformation processes occurring in Iceland, the Caribbean, Venezuela, the US, Africa, India, Pakistan and Tibet. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and an Associate Director of CIRES, University of Colorado. 2nd International Seminar Earthworks in Europe, 3rd & 4th June 2009 Royal Geographical Society, London, html THE TWELFTH MALLET MILNE LECTURE 27 th May 2009 Institution of Civil Engineers One Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AA The Seismic Future of Cities Shotcrete for Underground Support XI June 7-10, 2009, Davos Congress Center Davos, Switzerland Engineering Conferences International (ECI), in conjunction with the International Tunnelling Association (ITA), the Swiss Tunnelling Society (FGU) and several other European Associations is sponsoring the Shotcrete for Underground Support XI Conference. The conference will be held at the Davos Congress Center, Davos, Grisons, Switzerland from June 7-10, This conference is the eleventh in a series of conferences on the theme of Shotcrete for Underground Support, that were sponsored by Engineering Foundation, predecessor of ECI. The first conference was held in South Berwick, Maryland, USA in The most recent five conferences on this theme were held in Uppsala, Sweden (1990); Niagara-on- ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 16

17 the-lake, Ontario, Canada (1993); Telfs, Austria (1995); Campos Do Jordao, Brazil (1999); Kyoto, Japan (2002); Whistler, Canada (2006). In 2009 the conference will be held again in Europe. The main purpose of this conference is to bring together specialists from around the world, from industry, government and academia to present and discuss the latest stateof-the-art of shotcrete in general and shotcrete for underground support in particular. There is an increasing use of shotcrete in underground infrastructures as well as in mining and considerable technological progress has been made and is still made in this field. This conference provides a unique opportunity for presenting latest developments and case-history examples worldwide. CONFERENCE TOPICS Design for underground support using shotcrete and other support components. Shotcrete making materials including: binders (cement and supplementary cementing materials), aggregates, admixtures and shotcrete accelerators. Steel and synthetic fibre reinforcement. Testing and properties of plastic and hardened shotcrete, including rebound and early age properties. Testing for toughness of fibre reinforced shotcretes, including beam and panel tests. Design, specification and testing for durability of shotcrete. Shotcrete batching, mixing supply and application equipment. Application of shotcrete using hand nuzzling, remote arms and robotic control. Shotcrete Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) including shotcrete nozzleman certification and project qualification. Case history examples of innovative shotcrete projects in both civil engineering and mining applications. Health, safety and environmental issues relating to shotcrete use. Other related topics Conference Chair: F. Amberg, M.o.S. ETHZ, SIA CEO Amberg Group, President Swiss Tunnelling Society Tel: ; Fax: ; Engineering Conferences International 32 Broadway, Suite New York, NY 10004, USA Phone: , Fax: Short Course SETTING UP A GEOTECHNICAL SOIL INVESTIGATION PROGRAMME 9-11 June 2009, Deltares, Delft, the Netherlands Failure and delay during construction are often caused by unforeseen behaviour of the subsoil. The public s tolerance for these mishaps is fading, while uncertainties and risks will always be reality in geo-engineering. Therefore, setting up a tailor made soil investigation program is essential for the success of each construction job. Considering different variables will help to determine the ideal type and scale of a soil investigation program and its interpretation. Failure and delay during construction are often caused by unforeseen behaviour of the subsoil. The public s tolerance for these mishaps is fading, while uncertainties and risks will always be reality in geo-engineering. Therefore, setting up a tailor made soil investigation program is essential for the success of each construction job. Considering different variables will help to determine the ideal type and scale of a soil investigation program and its interpretation. Aim of the course This three-day course provides participants with a systematic risk-driven planning of soil investigation programs, including many practical cases. Topics are: cone penetration testing and drilling methods various other measurement methods to determine in situ geotechnical parameters geophysical survey methods laboratory testing risk analyses and geotechnical baseline reporting an overview of the state-of-the-art techniques aspects of the interpretation of the measurement data and correlations workshop on planning a soil investigation program. Course leaders Tom Lunne, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute Victor Hopman, Deltares More information For more information, please contact the course coordinator, Marion Arkesteijn (telephone +31 (0) , telefax +31 (0) or Geo-Environmental Engineering, 9th Canada-France-Japan- Korea Joint Conference on Geo-Environmental Engineering (GEE 2009), The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, June 10-12, 2009, gee2009.civil.ubc.ca 2009 RETC Rapid Excavation & Tunneling Conference & Exhibit, June 14-17, 2009, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, IS-Tokyo 2009 International Conference on Performance- Based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering - from case history to practice, June 2009, Tokyo, Japan, ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 17

18 WCCE ECCE TCCE Joint Conference EARTHQUAKE & TSUNAMI, June 2009, Istanbul, Turkey - 5 th SYMPOSIUM ON STRAIT CROSSINGS, June 2009, Trondheim, Norway, ΨCOURSE ON TUNNEL DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION JUNE 2009, BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, MIDDLESEX, UK The BTS Tunnelling Course is organised and run by the British Tunnelling Society (BTS), an affiliate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The purpose of the course is to provide a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of tunnelling. For 2009 the course has been modelled to reflect changes in the tunnelling industry and to improve its presentational style. The course will follow the project life and will contain worked examples and workshop sessions to allow improved interaction between delegates and speakers. It is aimed at the wide range of professional services that support the tunnelling industry, including clients, tunnel operators and members of the financial and insurance sectors that may have a vested interest in tunnelling enterprises. It is an invaluable introduction to tunnelling for young engineers from the construction and consultancy sectors to those more experienced engineers who wish to maintain their skills at the leading edge of industry developments. The course speakers are all recognised industry experts in their own fields. The BTS Tunnelling Course is recognised within the industry as providing the highest standard of technical content with the course material being presented in a format designed to engage and inform attendees from a wide range of backgrounds. British Tunnelling Society c/o Mott MacDonald Wellesley Road Croydon CR9 2UL t: +44 (0) f: +44 (0) e: 3D Finite Element Analysis for Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering June, 2009, Delft, the Netherlands TNO DIANA cordially invites you to attend its 2-days training course: 3D Finite Element Analysis for Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering. The course consists of a balanced mixture of lectures and hands-on computer tutorials and exercises using the 3D FEA software midasgts. This course is part of the promotional campaign of midasgts and will therefore be FREE of CHARGE. Due to the limited space available (maximum 30 participants), registration is on a first come, first served basis. For registration, please fill in the enclosed form and return to us by fax ( ), or before June 12 th For more information, please contact Dr. Ahmed Elkadi at or Rock Dynamics Workshop 2009 Lausanne, June 2009 isrm.net/fotos/noticias/rock_dynamics_workshop_ 2009.pdf The ISRM Commission on Rock Dynamics, together with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) Rock Mechanics Laboratory will organise an International Workshop at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, June Dr Zhou Yingxin, Chairman of the Commission, will be the Workshop Co-ordinator. The Rock Dynamics Workshop aims to bring together leading researchers and practitioners to share and exchange knowledge and experience in rock dynamics research and its application to rock engineering design. The workshop will feature presentations on the state of the art in research and engineering practice and provide ample time for discussion. Interested parties are invited to contact Dr Yingxin ZHOU via The 3 rd International Geotechnical Symposium (IGS2009) on Geotechnical Engineering for Disaster Prevention and Reduction, July 22 25, 2009 Harbin, China, igs2009.hit.edu.cn TCLEE 2009 Lifeline Earthquake Engineering in a Multihazard Environment, June 28 July 1, 2009, Oakland, California, USA, content.asce.org/conferences/tclee2009 Asheville rd U.S. Rock Mechanics Symposium 4th U.S.-Canada Rock Mechanics Symposium June 28- July 1, 2009, Asheville, North Carolina, USA This symposium encompasses all aspects of rock mechanics, rock engineering, and geomechanics. We invite scientific and engineering papers addressing geology and geophysics, civil, mining, petroleum, and underground construction applications. We especially aim to focus on fundamentals that are of common interest to all disciplines. Examples of such fundamentals are: Lab and in situ testing, characterization, upscaling ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 18

19 Fractured rock, discontinuities, rock masses In situ stress measurement, prediction, and modeling Weak rocks, shales, granular materials Numerical/analytic/constitutive modeling of rock processes Salt and creeping materials Rock excavation and breakage, dynamic loading High- and low-temperature geomechanics Rock physics and geophysics Stability/support of underground openings (all sizes) Slope and open pit stability, foundations, dams Fracture mechanics and fracture propagation Coupled processes, flow and transport Remote sensing, monitoring, seismicity Compaction, yielding, pore collapse, plasticity Waste disposal, seal integrity, underground storage Uncertainty/stochastics/probability Contact ARMA: Peter Smeallie, Executive Director (P) (F) (E) STREMAH 2009 Eleventh International Conference on Structural Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture July 2009, Tallinn, Estonia html Introduction STREMAH 2009 is the 11th International Conference on Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture. The meeting, which has taken place on a regular basis over more than 20 years, has become an event attracting specialists from all over the world. It offers a channel for stateof-the-art technology and the most up-to-date scientific discoveries to be applied to the conservation of our architectural heritage. The importance of the architectural heritage for the historical identity of a region, town or nation is now widely recognised throughout the world. In order to take care of our heritage we need to look beyond borders and continents to benefit from the experience gained by others and to gain a better understanding of its cultural background. This series of conferences marks an important contribution as each meeting gathers the most recent advances in research and up-to-date studies of heritage buildings and makes them accessible to wide circles of interested people. STREMAH is now well established as the most important conference of its type. The conference will aim to bring together scholars and professionals to discuss a variety of topics related to architectural and maritime heritage. In addition to the regular topics covered during STREMAH conferences, the meeting will discuss the future of historic harbours, dockyards and other similar maritime structures in today s world, as well as the function of historic vessels and their heritage value. This leads to problems such as the role of development schemes and the relationship between tourism and maritime heritage and the need to protect the latter by suitable legislation and support initiatives. STREMAH 2009 brings together scientists, architects, curators, engineers, art historians, surveyors, archaeologists and building specialists to exchange opinions and experiences, present the most recent scientific and practical findings, and discuss problems and solutions in relation to studies repairs and maintenance of heritage buildings. Topics Heritage architecture and historical aspects Regional architecture Structural issues Seismic behaviour and vibrations Surveying and monitoring Material characterisation and problems Simulation and modelling Environmental damage Assessment and retrofitting Structural restoration of metallic structures Reuse of heritage buildings Preservation of archaeological sites Modern (19th/20th Century) heritage Social and economic aspect in heritage Maritime heritage Historical ports, dockyards, shipyards and buildings Underwater heritage Ship preservation and shipwrecks Oral traditions and stories Economics of preservation Experimental validation and verification Conference Secretariat Claire Shiell STREMAH 2009 Wessex Institute of Technology Ashurst Lodge, Ashurst Southampton, SO40 7AA Tel: 44 (0) Fax: 44 (0) The 3rd International Geotechnical Symposium (IGS2009) on Geotechnical Engineering for Disaster Prevention and Reduction, July 2009, Harbin, China, igs2009.hit.edu.cn GeoHunan International Conference: Challenges and Recent Advances in Pavement Technologies and Transportation Geotechnics, 3 6 August 2009, PROTECT2009, Second International Workshop Performance, Protection & Strengthening of Structures under Extreme Loading, nan Village Center, Hayama, Japan, August 19-21, 2009, GeoAfrica 2009 Geosynthetics For Africa, 2 5 September 2009, Cape Town, South Africa, 17 th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Future of Academia & Practice of Geotechnical Engineering, 5 9 October 2009, Alexandria, Egypt - Who Should Attend ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 19

20 Sardinia 2009 Twelfth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, 5-9 October 2009, S. Margherita di Pula (Cagliari), Sardinia, Italy, Symposium Mechanics of Natural Solids Horto, Pelion, Greece 7th - 9th September 2009 geotechnik.uibk.ac.at The symposium aims to deliver a paradigm for the interconnection of the mechanics of soil, rock, ice and snow and also for the interdisciplinary character of the related research. Therefore, the lectures will be of fundamental character and address the possible interfaces and the fascinating contents of the several subjects. Natural solids (soil, rock, ice, snow) are characterised by inhomogenety and by properties that vary in a very large range. For example, granite is usually very hard, but weathered granite can be kneaded by hand. Rock can be continuous or jointed, large rock strata undergo in the course of millions of years enormous deformations, they can be folded and/or upheaved by several kilometers. Continuous disintegration transforms rock to soil, a granular material that exhibits peculiar properties the most striking of which is that it can undergo extremely large deformations and then resume solidity, when the individual grains are pressed against each other. Sand shares with rock the ability to undergo large deformation, provided that rock is deformed in completely different time scales from sand. Thus, strength and rigidity (stiffness) of rock are a matter of deformation rate, and sand can be considered as an archetype of all natural solids. The inherent similarity that connects rock and soil holds also for ice and snow. Snow is a sintered material but shares some properties with soil, whereas glacier ice behaves like a low viscosity rock. SPEAKERS AND LECTURES Eduardo Alonso, Barcelona Size effects and long term behaviour of coarse granular media Gary Couples, Edinburgh Nature: A very sophisticated experimentalist Itai Einav, Sydney Confined comminution in granular materials: from discrete to continuum Steve Hall, Grenoble When geophysics meet geomechanics: elastic-wave imaging of geomechanical properties and processes Dimitrios Kolymbas, Innsbruck Sand as an archetypical natural solid Mario Liu, Tübingen Physical foundations of sand mechanics Jacques Meyssonnier, Grenoble Experimental studies of the viscoplasticty of ice and snow Carlos Santamarina, Georgia Particle-level processes in the development of discontinuities in granular materials Martin Schneebeli, Davos Snow mechanics in view of the transition between a sintered and granular material Martin Schöpfer, Dublin Distinct Element Method (DEM) modelling of laboratory to outcropscale fracturing of natural rocks Erland Schulson, Dartmouth, New Hampshire Fracture of Ice Antoinette Tordesillas, Melbourne Are we there yet?: Following the energy trail in cohesionless granular solids Cino Viggiani, Grenoble Mechanisms of localized deformation/damage in geomaterials: an experimental insight Teng Fong Wong, New York Grain crushing, pore collapse and strain localization in porous rock Contact Address: Assistant Prof. Daniel Renk Division of Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineering Institute of Infrastructure, University of Innsbruck Technikerstraße 13, A-6020 Innsbruck Tel.: +43/512/ , Fax: +43/512/ AMIREG rd International Conference Advances in Resources & Hazardous Waste Management Towards Sustainable Development, 7 9 September 2009, heliotopos.conferences.gr/amireg2009 Jubilee Symposium on Polymer Geogrid Reinforcement, Institution of Civil Engineering, London, 8 September 2009 Geological Engineering Problems in Major Construction Pojects, Chengdu, China, September 9th - 11th, 2009, EURO:TUN 2009 Computational Methods in Tunnelling, 9-11 September 2009, Bochum, Germany, 9th International Symposium on Tunnel Construction and Underground Structures, September 2009, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1st International Symposium on Rockfill Dams, October 2009, Chengdu, China, ISRM 1st annual technical and cultural field trip, Florence, Italy, September ο Ελληνο Ιαπωνικό Συµπόσιο: ΑΝΤΙΣΕΙΣΜΙΚΟΣ ΣΧΕ ΙΑΣΜΟΣ ΘΕΜΕΛΙΩΣΕΩΝ: Εµφαση στα Εργα Υποδοµής Σεπτεµβρίου 2009, Σαντορίνη Το Ελληνικό Τµήµα Αντισεισµικής Μηχανικής (ΕΤΑΜ), σε συνεργασία µε το Εργαστήριο Εδαφοµηχανικής του ΕΜΠ, και το Τµήµα Σεισµικής Μηχανικής του Συλλόγου Πολιτικών ΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΕΕΕΓΜ Αρ ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 2009 Σελίδα 20

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